Reverse engineering technology has been around quite a while. Some of
the instruments used to capture geometric data from an object are contact
probes, non-contact probes(aka laser scanners) and photogrammetry(using
a photo to plot reference points). These methods are somewhat of a painstaking
process to capture data and turn it into a machineable item, especially
large objects which need to be broken up into smaller chunks.

The process we are currently using is a laser scanning camera which can
capture the object and convert it into a point cloud. With several scans
from different angles, we can then build a computer model that can be
modified in many different ways. Once we have a working computer model,
we can either send it to the Rapid Prototyping machine, 5 Axis Router,
or 4 Axis Mill, depending on size and material requirements from the customer.

Scanning can be done either here at our shop or in the field; mainly
depends on size. Although as you can see by the photos (left) an object
as large as a Mack truck can be handled here at our facility. On this
truck we scanned in the 5th wheel coupler and reproduced it in foam to
create tooling to fabricate a mold. Then that mold is used to build a
fiberglass replica to be used on a full size Mack, presently in construction.